baseball dilema

I've decided that I should declare support for a Major League Baseball team. I'm still not sure why I've made this decision, and I may not follow through with it, but I am seriously considering three teams to root for. Personally, I'm not a big sports guy and I don't see this changing that. I enjoy going to the random Saltdogs game and may do more of that, but I doubt I'll ever sit down and watch a whole baseball game on TV. Nevertheless, I think my time has come to pick a team.

Why this decision? Well my friend Brian is likely to blame as he just did a similar thing and declared support for the KC Royals. My coworkers and father in-law are all into a bevy of sports, and it's nice to be able to join in conversation. The straw however, is that I do find sports interesting enough to check-in while drinking a beer at a friends or bar, and it always helps to have a team to root for when doing that.

Why baseball and why am I picking teams now? I already have a football team. I grew up a huge Buffalo Bills fan from my father's influence and while I'm no longer a huge NFL fan - the Bills will always have a special place.
I had a short lived Hockey obsession in middle school that led me to purchase a Toronto Maple Leafs jersey, and right now I don't really care enough about hockey to change that.
As far as basketball goes, I'm a fan of the NCAA tournament, but the pro's just don't do it for me. I never had an NBA basketball team growing up, so maybe I'll pick one someday, but not today.
Baseball - I like baseball, I enjoy the atmosphere, I played baseball growing up, I never had a team. I dabbled with the Mets, A's and Dodgers, but never really followed any of them. These preferences had no real basis and I was mainly just echoing friends. I think I became an A's fan because I happened to get a Reggie Jackson baseball card and someone told me he was good.
So that's why I've decided to start fresh and pick a new team. Also I'm in the market for a new hat and thought that if I'm going to get a baseball hat, it might as well have a team on it.

THE CONTENDERS:

The Kansas City Royals


Pros:
Undoubtedly the nearest team to Lincoln. Omaha boasts their minor league counterpart. I have family in Kansas City and try to visit as often as possible. Plus I really like the city.
Cons:
Too close for comfort. I've always hated the Chiefs and may find it difficult to root for a different Kansas City team.

The Chicago Cubs


Pros:
Currently my favorite midwestern city that I've visited. My family has some roots in Chicago starting when my grandma got off the boat. Love that Old Style beer. Associated with the best hot dogs in the world, which are inherently tied to baseball.
Cons:
Lots of people are Cubs fans and seeing as how they are doing well this year, I would be branded a Bandwagon Fan for life.

The Milwaukee Brewers


Pros:
I fancy myself a homebrewer so it just fits. Given the city's history and great lake adjacent location - I think it is a town I could support. They play in Miller Stadium and I love my High-Life. They have a sprig of barley on their hats.
Cons:
Don't know much about them. Only time I've spent in Milwaukee is in their airport, which is really nice.

I'm looking for advice - please comment! I'm hoping to make this decision by the 4th of July.

Upside-Down Experiment

I decided to try my hand at upside-down veg growing this year. I've attempted gardening for many years now - pretty much ever since I moved out of the dorms. When I lived in the bottoms, I had a pretty good garden going. I hoed a 4'x4' plot in a nice sunny spot that was overflowing with tomatoes and peppers. When I moved to washington street, the lack of yard forced me to try a few plants in the sunniest spots I could find, but with no success.

In my current location I've had minimal success as well. I hoed a 4'x8' plot two years ago and have planted it with tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers. Noel would not let me put it in the front yard, so I put it in the sunniest spot in back. Unfortunately, this spot just isn't that sunny - poor tree placement. The plot gets great morning sun, but is covered by noon and is spotty in the afternoon. Over the course of the summer the plants will generally grow nice and tall, if the rabbits don’t get to them first. When it comes time for them to fruit - they just won't produce. The birds usually manage to peck away at the few we do get and then I walk away from yet another failed experiment.

So what to do this year? I filled the plot with rhubarb and asparagus. My understanding is that they don’t require quite as much sun as the bigger fruited plants, and that they take a couple years to establish. The plan is to do some tree trimming (for a future garage) in the mean time and maybe by the time the plants are ready they'll have plenty of sun.

I had resigned myself to scamming tomatoes from other gardeners when my grandfather (who religiously starts the plants in his basement for everyone he knows) gave me 5 plants. I gave three of them to Noel’s folks and I kept two. I put a cherry tomato plant in a pot, which I set on the end of my driveway as it gets more sun than the rest of the back yard. The cherry tomato is doing great and after just a month is 3’-4’ tall and fruiting. I decided to hang the other one.

I'd been seeing numerous contraptions for sale to hang your garden veggies upside-down. They are touted as being better for the plant and the environment. They waste less water / fertilizer and keep the plant from getting diseased by keeping the fruit off the ground. I decided to try it out. Instead of buying one, I opted to make my own. I got the biggest coffee container I could find and cut a 2” diameter hole in the bottom, just big enough to fit the plant through. I also drilled 4 drain holes around the edges. Then I took some filter fabric and cut it into a circle with a slit down one radius. I put the plant through the hole, wrapped the filter fabric around the stem – making sure it covered all the holes and went up the side of the can and then started filling the can with soil.

So far so good. The plant is about 1’ to 2’ tall, has a few flowers and looks healthy. Below are some photos from the past month.


Day 1 - After the first night the plant had already started trying to right itself.


Week 1 - It seemed to grow a lot in the first week. At this point most of the growth seemed downward, but with the leaves turned upright.


Week 4 - Eventually the plant started growing upward, which kinda suprised me. So far I've been letting nature do most to all of the watering and have yet to fertilize. A few buds showed up within the last couple of days, so I think it is time to fertilize.

bottled at last

At long last, I finally got around to bottling my 2 Abbeys dubbel style ale. This beer sat in the primary fermentor for 2wks and the secondary for 1mo, which is probably way too long. All the same - I'm really looking forward to it, although I do have some reservations.

Things I'm afraid of: 1) the yeast died off - how long can yeast stay dormant before they die? I guess if it doesn't carbonate I can always dump all the bottles in the keg; and 2) something bad happened in the fermentor - for as long as that stuff was in there plus with the extra transfer, I can't but be nervous that some sort of contamination might have gotten in there and gone awry.

Things I have going for me: 1) it was fairly cool in the basement at 70f the whole time; 2) it tasted good - bitter up front / smooth on the back; 3) it was still sealed really tight; and 4) it was super clear - I've never realized how cloudy my other beers were until I made this one.

Good or bad - first tasting will come this weekend.